Facebook is banning ads that promise to cure coronavirus or incite panic around the outbreak in its latest attempt to prevent misinformation.
The tech giant said it now prohibits advertising that creates “a sense of urgency” about the Covid-19 illness, such as those that “imply a limited supply, or guarantee a cure or prevention”.
This includes ads with claims such as face masks are 100% guaranteed to prevent the spread of the virus.
The rules also extend to those trying to sell related items on the social network’s Marketplace platform.
Facebook already began cracking down on posts that promote fake miracle cures for coronavirus, such as false suggestions that drinking bleach is a solution.
“While we allow people to buy and sell masks on Facebook, we are taking a closer look at this group,” a Facebook spokesman said.
We recently implemented a policy to prohibit ads that refer to the coronavirus and create a sense of urgency, like implying a limited supply, or guaranteeing a cure or prevention.
The announcement comes as scientists are racing to find a treatment, health crews are scrubbing everything from money to buses, and quarantines are being enforced in places from a beachfront resort in the Atlantic to an uninhabited island in the Pacific as the world battles the spread of a new virus.
Concern is also growing over the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, with work at many factories halted, trade routes frozen and tourism crippled, while a growing list of countries brace for the illness to claim new territory.
Even the Tokyo Olympics, five months away, are not far enough off to keep people from wondering if they will go ahead as planned.
About 81,000 people around the globe have now been infected with Covid-19, and that number continues to increase as it spreads.
In Europe, Germany, France and Spain are among the places with a growing caseload – with an expanding cluster of more than 200 cases in northern Italy eyed as a source for those transmissions.
In the Middle East, where cases have increased in Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq, blame is being directed towards Iran amid fears the extent of the outbreak there has been underestimated.
In Asia, where the crisis originated late last year in China, threats continue to emerge around the region, with South Korea battling a mass outbreak centred in the 2.5 million-person city of Daegu.
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
